orbits
NASA’s New Asteroid Impact Monitoring System Comes Online
An asteroid striking Earth is a genuine possibility. There are tens of thousands of asteroids classified as Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs),…
The Lunar Gateway Will be in a “Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit”
After months of discussion, the space agencies behind the Lunar Gateway have decided how the space station will orbit the…
Astronomy Cast Ep. 409: Spin in the Solar System
The Solar System is a spinny place. Everything’s turning turning. But if you look closely, there are some pretty strange…
This is a Scale Model of the Solar System Like You’ve Never Seen Before
We've all seen illustrations of the Solar System. They're in our school textbooks, on posters, on websites, on t-shirts... in…
How Long Does It Take to Get to Pluto?
It's a long way out to the dwarf planet Pluto. So, just how fast could we get there? Pluto, the…
Could There Be Another Planet Behind the Sun?
If you've read your share of sci-fi, and I know you have, you've read stories about another Earth-sized planet orbiting…
Is Our Solar System Weird?
Is our Solar System normal? Or is it weird? How does the Solar System fit within the strange star systems…
Here’s the Latest Kepler Orrery Video: the Orbits of the Planets Go ‘Round and ‘Round
If you've ever wanted to know what 3,538 exoplanets look like spinning around their stars, here you go! This is…
Podcast: Orbit
When an object is orbiting the Earth, it’s really falling. The trick, described in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,…
The Flip Side of Exoplanet Orbits
[/caption] It was once thought that our planet was part of a "typical" solar system. Inner rocky worlds, outlying gas…